Pieces
by SkywardShadow
Summary: The youngest Uchiha takes a moment to reflect on his torrential life while moving toward an uncertain future. Drabble-ish songfic to "Pieces" by Sum 41. Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it. I also do not own the awesome song "Pieces", which belongs to Sum 41.

**x**

_**Pieces**_

**x**

_I tried to be perfect  
But nothing was worth it_

_So here I am again._

_I don't believe it makes me real_

Konoha. The place where it all started, and would all end.

Looking back, it was almost staggering to realize how much had changed.

_I'd thought it'd be easy  
But no one believes me  
I meant all the things that I said_

He closed his eyes briefly, remembering.

_If you believe it's in my soul  
I'd say all the words that I know_

As a little boy, a foolish child, he had adored and idolized his older brother. His aniki. Itachi was everything he had wanted to be. (Of course, that may have been due in part to Fugaku's constant urging Sasuke to catch up to his brother, but the younger boy probably would have aimed for that goal even if his father had never said anything.)

He had loved his brother from the bottom of his heart, always hoping for some acknowledgement from the older boy. Unlike other boys, it was never his _father_ he wanted to impress. It was Itachi. The only person who seemed to find him worthwhile and precious, even if he was no prodigy.

_  
Just to see if it would show  
That I'm trying to let you know_

Things had changed so fast, so abruptly. In one night, Sasuke's family-indeed, his entire life-was shattered. The illusion his brother had kept up fell away with a crash, scattering into a million broken pieces of glass. The amount of happiness they had known was destroyed beyond repair.

At first his young mind had been unable to comprehend it. His brother, the one who always looked after him, the one he loved and aspired to be like, the one who made him feel like he was _worth_ something.

His ever-perfect aniki had become a monster.

A murderer.

The one he trusted above all others had eliminated the clan, and made his little brother relive the horror over and over again.

That night, an innocent little boy devoted his whole existence to killing the only one he had left.

He became an avenger.

_  
That I'm better off on my own_

It was somewhat ironic, he supposed. In the aftermath of the massacre, Sasuke withdrew from any form of social life, hiding deep within himself. But for whatever reason, he still managed to attract an innumerable amount of fangirls; starry-eyed kunoichi-to-be who smothered him with their pitiful attraction and pointless, empty words.

Their attention might have meant something to him once. Now it was nothing more than a hindrance.

He was assigned to Team Seven with three people who made him want to bang his head into the nearest available surface whenever he so much as looked at them. A perverted sensei whose words didn't often make sense; a girl with pink hair who practically drooled whenever she looked at him; and a loudmouthed blond boy with an outfit so bright you could probably use him for target practice a mile away.

Whatever; it hadn't mattered. As long as he ignored them as much as possible, they wouldn't get in his way too much. Hopefully.

But slowly, he felt himself becoming less able to shut them out. As time passed, he unwillingly (more or less) began to let them in. They became his family.

And that was no good. The last time he had a family, he lost them. Attachment to people wasn't going to help him get his revenge; it would only increase his chances of losing everything, all over again.

So he closed the door. Locked it, and demolished the key.

_This place is so empty  
My thoughts are so tempting  
I don't know how it got so bad_

He cut himself off. He cut _them_ off. He joined Orochimaru without caring about what would happen to him.

They hadn't made it easy, though; no, god forbid anything in his life ever be easy. Sakura's tears had clawed at him from the inside; a little voice rose up in his head and cautiously ventured the idea that he could stay. But he squashed the thought before remorse could really kick in.

Naruto was harder. Much, much harder. Their fight was mentally agonizing; any physical wounds couldn't compare. When the blond told Sasuke he had become a brother to him, at almost made the raven-haired boy want to give in, to root himself firmly in Konoha and figure out a way to fulfill his duty without hurting his friends.

But he pushed on. And when the battle ended, Sasuke had sealed his fate in darkness.

_  
Sometimes it's so crazy that nothing could save me  
But it's the only thing that I have  
_

They would reunite, yes; multiple times after years had passed. But Sasuke had grown stronger in many senses of the word, and keeping his old teammates from infiltrating his head was easier than it had been before.

At last, he reached the end of his vengeful road: the final battle with his brother and enemy, Itachi.

But the ending was something he never could have expected.

When blows between them ceased to be traded, the Uchiha prodigy lay dead on the ground as the sky darkened. His little brother watched in shock, mind not even registering the rain as it hit his face like tears.

The last thing Sasuke saw in his mind's eye, before blacking out, was that pure smile his aniki had worn, poking him in the forehead like he had when they were still so young and naïve.

_If you believe it's in my soul  
I'd say all the words that I know_

Sasuke woke eventually, and the things he learned made him wish that he had never opened his eyes again. That he had died on the ground, content with his victory, deluded and shrouded in blissful ignorance. That he had ended his path next to his brother, finishing as the satisfied winner.

But no. He knew things now, things that made him hate himself, things that renewed his vengeful fury.

Now he had a new target. The avenger's path was longer than he had initially thought.

_  
Just to see if it would show  
That I'm trying to let you know_

So he had headed back to Konoha, the place he once called home, with his new team. This group brought back feelings of nostalgia, blurry memories that gave him the faintest feel of family again.

But by now he knew better than to acknowledge those feelings. They never did him any good. Anyone he loved, he ended up hurting.

That wouldn't change, would it?

_  
That I'm better off on my own_

_(On my own!)_

Somewhere along the way, he had come to the realization that he had become Itachi.

And not the true Itachi either; no, he had morphed into the false Itachi that he hated so much. The person who would cut ties with his friends, causing them all pain without so much as batting an eye.

As a child, he would've given anything to be exactly like his big brother.

What a twisted web.

_I tried to be perfect  
It just wasn't worth it  
Nothing could ever be so wrong_

He sighed, opening his eyes again.

Eyes red and black with the Mangekyo Sharingan, his elder brother's last gift.

Eyes clouded over with suppressed pain, and the slow but steady promise of blindness. _Someday soon, I won't see anything anymore._

_  
It's hard to believe me  
It never gets easy  
I guess I knew that all along_

He stared at the nearby gates of Konoha, outwardly calm, while his emotions rocked inside of him like storm-tossed oceans.

_It'll be all over soon._

_If you believe it's in my soul  
I'd say all the words that I know  
Just to see if it would show  
That I'm trying to let you know_

He breathed in slowly, then started walking again, towards an uncertain future.

Moving forward.

_  
That I'm better off on my own_

**xOwari?x**


End file.
